What I’ve learned from the recession

Writing on a sensitive subject like this is never wise. I realize that as a white collar professional with a job, a home, and food on the table, I haven’t fully felt the brunt of this difficult time we all know as the recession. I know that there are millions out there who are out [...]

I must be dreaming!

My wife Shelly feels like I have the most vivid dreams of anyone she has ever met. When I have one, and when I remember it in the morning, I try to tell her about it. Why? Because I have learned through my own graduate work in communication that unless you verbalize your dreams, they [...]

Reality Check

I was upset. I was mad. I felt as if I had been taken advantage of. Ever since the iPad had come out, I had wanted one. But we could never seem to squeeze enough extra cash from the family budget to afford one, and so I waited. Then the iPad 2 came out, and [...]

Burn, baby, burn

Tradition has it that before Cortez and his conquistadors set out to conquer the Aztec empire, he burned the ships that had brought them to the new world. This was to prevent his men from taking them back to Spain. Their future lay before them, and Cortez didn’t want any second thoughts. In a sense, [...]

Hurry Up and Wait

The first summer I arrived here in Texas I learned that this campus is totally different in the summer months. I had taken on the responsibility of running the campus radio station, and actually had arrived early to attend meetings that were related. As I always did, I arrived ready to turn the world on [...]

That’s right. I’m a nerd.

After years as a professional communicator, all that time working for the Seventh-day Adventist Church in some capacity, I have come to the conclusion that everyone is hiding something. When I was a PR assistant at Hinsdale Hospital in Illinois in the early 80s, a colleague told me that I was “too transparent.” What he [...]

The Greatest Want of the World

OK, first of all, I will admit. I am supposed to be writing on my novel, finishing the last few chapters of a five-year project. Instead, I am writing my blog and hoping inspiration will kick in sometime before winter. And my second caveat is that I am breaking one of my own rules. I [...]

What day is it?

I heard a few days ago that Samoa is struggling with a problem. The island nation of Samoa does a lot of commerce with New Zealand and Australia. But Samoa is on the east side of the International Date Line and Australia and New Zealand are on the west side. What that means is that [...]

Root of All Evil

Tonight I got to watch the movie, “The Razor’s Edge,” based on the novel by W. Somerset Maugham. It tells the story of two young men who graduate from college in Illinois, then volunteer to drive an ambulance in France during World War I. The horrific experience they have causes one to cancel his wedding [...]

Why I teach

The first inkling I had that I might be interested in teaching came when I was studying for my master’s degree. I got the opportunity to be what is called a “graduate assistant,” which meant you taught the entry-level classes that regular professors would rather not teach. I was given one class of about 30 [...]